Our first field trip...

Today, we took a group field trip to a city council meeting. It was pre-arranged and the entire agenda was for the council to meet the Peace Corps volunteers and for us to meet them. We got a nice welcome from the director of youth development, the police commissioner, and the mayor’s office. During the meeting he gave the 27 volunteers (all of us that are assigned to the city of Chernigov) an opportunity to introduce ourselves. On the one hand I was disappointed that I stumbled a couple of times with my introduction, which incidentally was filmed for the local news. On the other hand, I was pretty proud when he said we were the first Peace Corps group to collectively address the council in Russian. I have had a grand total of 3 days of language classes and I can already introduce myself to a city council…I do think that is pretty cool! Not sure where the next field trip is to, but maybe I will get to introduce myself again.
“Good day.
My name is Sim Morrell
I am from America in the state of New York
I am currently a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine
Thank you for your attention”

"Добрый день.
Меня зовут Сима Моррелл
Я из Америки в штате Нью-Йорк
Сейчас я добровольц Корпуса Мира в Украине
Сбасйба за внимание "

I nervously await the next time I have to introduce myself in front a town council on television!

Sim